How the 'Mafia' became 'La Cosa Nostra'

[Ed]

Hey guys,

I have updated article about how the FBI determined the "true" name of the Mafia was "La Cosa Nostra". I piece together all the clues and Intel supplied by different informants (who I identify) and listening devices to show the chronology of how the FBI arrived at their conclusion. "Cosa Nostra" was basically a New York/Philadelphia-area term. I also identify informant "NY 3368"-the original source of the Intel.

I think it's clear the FBI manipulated the Intel to suit their purposes. How much though is hard to say until more FBI documents are released.

http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/mafialacosanostra.html

[Antiliar]

Ed, enjoy the detective work. I agree with Harry Riccobene that "Cosa Nostra" originally developed by members trying to be secretive in front of non-members and it spread. "Our thing" is simply a euphemism. I also believe that the original source probably had a strong East Coast accent and pronounced "cosa" as "causa," hence the confusion. The word was spoken and agents wrote down what they heard without accounting for the accent. If you watch the old Three Stooges movies, that's how they talked. The accent has softened and is yielding to standard American English today.

[Ed]

I agree that accents confused agents but something else was going in the case of the original source. According to the FBI, the original source allegedly told agents that the secret name of the mafia was "La Causa Nostra" (sic) and that it meant "Our Cause" in English. So if the source was really saying "La Cosa Nostra" and the agents were just confused by his accent and wrote it down as "La Causa Nostra", why would he translate it as "Our Cause"? You would have expected him to translate it correctly as "Our Thing" but that didn't happen.

So either the source did call it "La Causa Nostra" and translated it as "Our Cause", or he told agents it was "La Cosa Nostra" (and the FBI wrote it down incorrectly as "La Causa Nostra") and never gave an English translation. The FBI may have lied and did its own translation and came up with the wrong one based on its own misunderstanding of the Italian term. Either way, something odd was going on.

[Snakes]

Good article, Ed. Thanks!

[Lupara]

Very interesting research and analysis. Nice read too.

[Villain]

I agree with everyone above and again good stuff Ed, thanks and keep up the good work

In addition, in the Outfit the non-Italians often referred to the made guys simply like "they" or "them", while the official members usually used simple references such as "the life", so the whole nameless organization theory really brings a lot

[Ed]

Thanks guys. I appreciate it. I think the FBI had a bit of ulterior motive to shoehorn "Cosa Nostra" as a universal term for the Mafia when the evidence the bureau had (at the time) didn't necessarily warrant it. I think the rivalry between the FBI and FBN had something to do with it, and the FBI's desire to be the top federal agency fighting organized crime.

[Confederate]

Thanks guys. I appreciate it. I think the FBI had a bit of ulterior motive to shoehorn "Cosa Nostra" as a universal term for the Mafia when the evidence the bureau had (at the time) didn't necessarily warrant it. I think the rivalry between the FBI and FBN had something to do with it, and the FBI's desire to be the top federal agency fighting organized crime.

I think you're right and I also believe that some agents in the F.B.I "coach" some of the better informants when a Case goes to Trial by leaking information from another source to the Informant in advance so it looks like they have an "independent corroborator".

[ShotgunTheRifle]

Anyone know what the deal was with Rocco Scafidi? He was made, punished/banned for 10 years, and then remade. What's the story behind that? Also is he Horseheads father?

[Pogo The Clown]

Don't think he was remade after being shelved but reinstated as a member. If I remember right he was a great uncle of Tommy and Tory Scafidi.


Pogo

[JCB1977]

Great stuff Ed, thanks so much for all of your hard work!

[B.]

Great article. I love it when we take a second look at commonly accepted terms, rules, and that type of thing, as many of these things aren't as straightforward as we have been led to believe. Your articles do an incredible job with this.

Anyone know what the deal was with Rocco Scafidi? He was made, punished/banned for 10 years, and then remade. What's the story behind that? Also is he Horseheads father?

He was shelved shortly after he was made in part because he had allegedly committed an unsanctioned murder and also mishandled/stolen money belonging to ranking members. He was supposed to be murdered but Giuseppe Traina of the Gambinos, a paesano of the Scafidis and a longtime influence over Philly, intervened. Rocco Scafidi's brother Salvatore was the grandfather of Tommy and Tory Scafidi.

Another Philadelphia member who was shelved and later reinstated was Peter Casella, the lesser known cousin of the more infamous Peter Casella who later became underboss. Casella was shelved for telling his wife too much about mafia activity and brought back in in the mid-1960s.

Ed -- you may have seen this and it doesn't necessarily add anything to the discussion but there is a conversation recorded between Scafidi and Frank Monte where the phrase Cosa Nostra is mentioned by, I believe, Scafidi and Monte says in response, "Cosa Nostra?" It's hard to place the context of it but it almost sounds like Monte may have been confused by the term, or at least Scafidi's use of it, though it's hard to say. Monte was part of the induction ceremony where Scafidi was reinstated so he would have heard the term then if it was used, as Scafidi says.

--

I had seen most of that Scafidi info, but either don't remember or missed the bit about the group being called the Black Hand pre-1930. Interesting that Eugene Farina also mentioned the Black Hand. DiLeonardo refers to his grandfather and Salvatore D'Aquila's organization being called the Black Hand as well. Makes me wonder if early mafiosi used this term internally more than we realized. With the way that Cosa Nostra/La Cosa Nostra seems to have come into wider use within the mafia through the media and LE, it seems possible the same happened with the term Black Hand considering how commonly it was used by police and newspapers in the early days.

Speaking of Farina, do you know the extent of his cooperation?

--

Did John Misuraca formally sponsor Costanza into San Jose, or just recommend/"prepare" him for membership? He had relatives and influence there, but would be pretty interesting if he formally sponsored him in the induction ceremony

[Ed]

Hey B,

Re: John Misuraca

My understanding is John Misuraca actually sponsored Sal Costanza, Alex Camarata (Misuraca's son-in-law) and his brother Peter Misuraca into the LCN. Meaning, the three individuals became inducted members on the "word" of Misuraca. He identified them as suitable candidates and "schooled" them on the ins and outs. In the case of Costanza, his actually "godfather" was an individual he met for the first time at the induction ceremony. I think Misuraca's power shows the influence the Profaci/Colombo Crime Family had in San Jose at the time. (Bill Feather does a good job showing the overlap between the two crime families.) It also shows how weak the San Jose Crime Family was by then.

Re: Eugene Farina

I came across an FBI report circa 1968 that indicated the FBI had only one member-informant in the entire state of New Jersey at the time. So I guess thats Farina. (Mind you, Farina denied being a member in an interview in 1964 so maybe that's not Farina? Of course, he might have said that to cover his ass.) Now, I've tracked down that member-informant symbol code and he doesn't give away too much Intel in the available FBI reports. I think Bill Feather indicates that Farina later disappeared and was presumed dead sometime in the late 60s or early 70s.

Re: Scafidi and Monte

Off the top of my head, I can't recall the transcript or if I did read it, I don't think I picked up on that clue. My guess is that the term "Cosa Nostra" was a "New York" term that grew organically there as a colloquialism that was eventually absorbed by mobsters like Angelo Bruno in other parts of the country. I think Bruno, being a relatively "new" mobster, was probably very impressionable and easily influenced by what he considered Mafia veterans in NYC.

In its own way, the Mafia or the Italian Underworld was influenced by "social media" of the day, just like we are today. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that young mobsters in the 1930s were sometimes calling their organization the "Black Hand" or whatever, based on something they read in the newspaper of the day. Riccobene and Scarpa both said the organization was essentially "nameless" but humans have a built in need to "name" things.

[scagghiuni]

Riccobene and Scarpa both said the organization was essentially "nameless" but humans have a built in need to "name" things.

some sicilian turncoats said the same, they called it 'cosa nostra' in 1960s just because influenced by the american mafia, in the past they called it 'honoured society' because the members were 'men of honour'; even medua changed the name, in the middle 1800 it was called simply 'the sect', after the 'mafia' and finally 'cosa nostra'

[Stroccos]

Good article Ed , anything on Cleveland in the pipeline ?